Visit Italy On This Day to discover things that happened today in Italian history, from famous Italians who were born or died on this day to moments that helped shape Italy's life and culture.

At Italy On This Day you will read about events and festivals, about important moments in history, and about the people who have made Italy the country it is today, and where they came from. Italy is a country rich in art and music, fashion and design, food and wine, sporting achievement and political diversity. Italy On This Day provides fascinating insights to help you enjoy it all the more.

Pages

Categories

6 October 2017

Maria Bertilla Boscardin – wartime nurse

Brave nun was prepared to die caring for others

A depiction of Maria Bertilla Boscardin
from Catholic Church literature

Maria Bertilla Boscardin, a nun who was canonised for her
devoted nursing of sick children and air raid victims in the First World War,
was born on this day in 1888 in Brendola, a small town in the Veneto.

She was beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1952, just 30 years
after she died, and made a saint by Pope John XXIII nine years later.

It was one of the quicker canonisations of modern history. Sometimes
many decades or even hundreds of years pass before a person’s life is recognised
with sainthood.

Boscardin’s came so swiftly that relatives and some of the
patients she cared for were present at her canonisation ceremony. Indeed, her
father, Angelo, was asked to provide testimony during the beatification process.

Born into a peasant family, who knew her as Annette, her
life in Brendola, which is about 15km (9 miles) southwest of Vicenza, was
tough. She was seen as rather a
slow-witted child, mocked by her peers and unkindly nicknamed ‘the goose’ even
by the local priest. Her father, a drunkard, was often abusive and violent.

She wanted to become educated but her attendance at school
was at times only sporadic because her family required her to work.

Her ambition to become a nun was in part to escape from this
unhappy childhood. She was turned down
by the first order to which she applied but the Sisters of St Dorothy in
Vicenza admitted her to their convent, assigning her the religious name Maria Bertilla.

After a tough upbringing, Maria found her
calling as a carer for sick children

Her first job was at the order’s large charity hospital in
Treviso, where she worked in the kitchen, peeling potatoes. What she is said to have told the
novice-mistress of the convent indicated that she had very low self-esteem but
she asked for their help to become a better person.

She found her calling after being assigned to work with the
children being treated at the hospital, many of whom were suffering from
diptheria, and needed constant attention.

One of the doctors at Treviso later testified that many of
the children, separated from their families for the first time, arrived at the
hospital so agitated that they would cry constantly for several days.

But Sister Bertilla, he recalled, “succeeded in rapidly
becoming a mother to them all. After two or three hours the child, who was
desperate, clung to her, calmly, as to his mother and followed her wherever she
went.”

When the First World War spread to Italy in 1915, Bertilla vowed
she would make the ultimate sacrifice, if necessary, to care for the
wounded. An entry in her diary read: ‘Here
I am, Lord, to do according to your will, under whatever aspect it presents
itself, let it be life, death or terror.'

As Treviso came under attack following the defeat of the
Italian army at the Battle of Caporetto, she is said to have stayed with patients
who could not be moved, praying and providing marsala wine for those who needed
it.

After the war, she was sent to a sanatorium to care for
soldiers with tuberculosis. Next she was sent to a seminary to care for survivors
of an epidemic.

The statue of Maria Bertilla Boscardin at the
church of Saints Peter and Paul in Cagnano

She was unlucky with her own health, however. Discovered to have a tumour in her early 20s,
after which she underwent surgery, she fell ill again in her early 30s.

The cancer had recurred. The only hope of a cure was to have
another operation. But she was much weaker this time and died in October, 1922,
two weeks after her 34th birthday.

Having suffered so much cruelty as a young girl and left
home with little sense of self-worth, Maria Bertilla ultimately left a deep
impression on those who knew her.

She was initially buried in Treviso but after crowds
regularly gathered at her grave, it was decided to erect a tomb for her in
Vicenza. A memorial plaque placed on her tomb described her as "a chosen
soul of heroic goodness ... an angelic alleviator of human suffering in this
place."

The tomb became a pilgrimage site where several miracles of
healing were said to have taken place.

A number of churches in the area around Vicenza have been dedicated to Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin, including one at Via Antonio Federico Ozanam in the west of the city and another in the village of Cagnano, about 40km (25 miles) south of Vicenza, which has a statute of her.

Travel tip:

The house of the Sister Teachers of Santa Dorothea, where
Maria Bertilla Boscardin took vows, is located in Contrà San Domenico in
Vicenza. It contains a chapel dedicated to her which was built in 1952, in view
of her beatification. In the same year the urn containing the remains of the
saint, originally buried in Treviso, were placed under the altar table. In 2002 thanks to architect Paolo Portoghesi
the altar - previously in burnished copper - was replaced with one in white
marble and the urn containing the remains of the saint was placed in front of
it.

Waterways lined with weeping willows are a
common sight in Treviso

Travel tip:

For many visitors to Italy, Treviso is no more than the name
of the airport at which they might land en route to Venice, yet it is an attractive
city worth visiting in its own right, rebuilt and faithfully restored after the
damage suffered in two world wars. Canals are a feature of the urban landscape –
not on the scale of Venice but significant nonetheless – and the Sile river
blesses the city with another stretch of attractive waterway, lined with
weeping willows. The arcaded streets have an air of refinement and prosperity
and there are plenty of restaurants, as well as bars serving prosecco from a
number of vineyards. The prime growing area for prosecco grapes in
Valdobbiadene is only 40km (25 miles) away to the northeast.

No comments:

Post a Comment

ADVERTISEMENT

THE SHOOTING IN SORRENTO

The Shooting in Sorrento, a new crime novel set in the southern Italy resort, is now available from Amazon.
It is the second Butler and Bartorelli mystery by Val Culley, following Death in the High City, which was set in Bergamo in Lombardy.The book - written for readers who prefer the 'cosy crime' genre - features journalist Kate Butler and her partner, Steve Bartorelli, who is a retired Detective Chief Inspector.They are in Sorrento for the wedding of the daughter of one of Steve’s Italian cousins.When tragedy strikes an English family staying at their hotel, Kate feels she has to help.She joins forces with another visitor to Sorrento to investigate after it becomes clear the Italian police aren’t looking further than the English family.

Prostitute who became a celebrity Raphael's Galatea in his frescoes at the Villa Farnesina in Rome is thought to be Imperia Im...

ITALY

BEST OF ITALY HOTELS

A selection of recommended hotels in Italy. Click on the picture to visit the site.

BEST OF BERGAMO

Tips and advice for visitors to this lovely Italian city. Click on the picture to visit the site.

BEST OF SORRENTO

Tips and advice for visitors to this popular Italian resort. Click on the picture to visit the site.

BEST OF PADOVA

What to see in this charming city in the Veneto. Click on the picture to visit the site.

NOTICE

All facts given on this website have been carefully researched and are published by the Italy On This Day Editor in good faith. All travel advice, hotel and restaurant recommendations are based on information that has been checked and was correct at the time of writing.